Locking device for elevators



No. 623,850. Patented Apr. 25, I899. T.- VAN KANNEL.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR ELEVATORS.

(Application filed June 2, 1,838.) W0 Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet I.

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LOCKING DEVICE FOR ELEVATORS.

(Applicatiopfiled June 2, 1896.)

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(No Model.)

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LOCKING DEVICE FOR ELEVATORS.

(Application filed June 2, 1896.) (No Model.)

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No. 623,850. Patented Ap r. 25, I899. T. VAN KANNEL.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR ELEVATORS H (Application filed June 2, 1896. (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

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LOCKING DEVICE FOR ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 623,850, dated April 25, 1899.

Application filed June 2, 1896. Serial No. 594,014. (No model.)

To all whom it natty concern:

Be it known that I, THEOPHILUS VAN KAN- NEL, a citizen of the United States, residing and effective means for transmitting the movement of the door or door-latch to the locking device without the use of an electric current or electromagnetic devices or without relying upon purely mechanical provision for the purpose. This objectI attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of part of an elevator-well and locking appliances in accordance with my invention, three floors being shown and the doors being closed, so as to release the locking device. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing one of the doors partly open and the locking device in action. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view, partly in elevation and partly in section, illustrating one of those elements of the lockin g device located in the wall at each of the doors opening into the same. Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line w m, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a transverse section, partly in elevation, on the line y y, Fig. 3. Fig. (5 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the parts in different positions from those there represented. Fig. 7 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, of that element of the locking mechanism which effects the actual looking or holding of the car-operating or power-governing device. Fig. Sis a plan view of the same, partly in section; and Figs. 9 to 11 are views illustrating Various modified forms of locking devices which may be used in carrying out my invention.

In the elevator-well, adjacent to each dooropening therein, I mount in any suitable manner a cylinder 1, having a weighted piston or plunger 2, which fits with reasonable snugness in the cylinder, so that while it can readily move to and fro therein leakage around the same will be very slow.

The lower head 3 of the cylinder constitutes the guide for a rod 4, which projects below said head and into the keeper 5, which cooperates with the latch 6 of the door 7 in order to retain said door in the closed position. In the present instance the latch consists of a swinging arm normally raised by the action of a spring 8, but having a curved hand-plate 9, whereby it can be depressed by the attendant in the car, the latch having at its free end a projecting lug 10, which as the door is closed is first depressed by the inclined block 11 of the keeper and then snaps upward behind said block, so as to engage the same and lock the door. The lug 10 of the latch 6 also projects beneath the rod 4. Hence whenever the door is closed and the latch permitted to rise the rod 4 and piston or plunger 2 will be likewise elevated, while when the'latch is depressed, so as to release it from the control of the keeper 11 in order to open the door, therewill be a corresponding fall of the piston 2 and rod 4, a pin 12 on the latter serving by contact with the upper end of the guide-tube to limit such descent.

At the top of each of the cylinders 1 is a tube or nozzle 13, to which is connected a pipe 14, preferably of lead or other flexible material, this pipe communicating with a stand-pipe 15, which extends from top to bottom of the elevator-well and communicates in like manner with each of the cylinders 1 in said well.

On the top of the plunger 2 of each cylinder is a boss or projection 16, which when said plunger is raised closes against the inner end of the tube or nozzle 13, the faces of the tube and boss being ground or otherwise trued, so that the boss 16 constitutes a valve for preventing any flow of air into or from the cylinder when the plunger 2 is raised.

The stand pipe 15 communicates at its lower end with a tube or nozzle 17, carried by a cylinder 18, which contains a piston or plunger 19 and a rod 20, the latter being connected at its lower end to one arm of a three-armed trip-lever 21, which is hung to a shaft 22, carried by-a frame 23, which also carries the shaft 24 of the valve or valve-operating device whereby the flow of motive fluid to and from the hydraulic cylinder of the elevator is governed, or in the case of an electric elevator the shaft may control the switch whereby the electric current is directed to or cut off from the motor whereby the elevator is operated. This shaft may be under control of anysuitable form of governing device extending from top to bottom of the elevator-well and passing through the carer connected to operating devices on the car. In the present instance Ihave shown a rod 40 having ropean d-pulley connections with a drum or sheave 41 on the shaft 24 as the means of operating the latter. A second arm of the trip-lever 21 carries an adjustable weight 25, which is intended to counterbalance or partially counterbalance the weight of the piston or plunger 15) and rod 20, and the third arm of the triplever plays between set-screws 26, carried by lugs 27 on a lock-arm 28, the hub 29 of the latter being mounted upon the hub of the trip-lever 2i. and said arm being provided with a projecting lug or tooth 30, adapted to engage with a toothed or notched wheel 31, which is secured to the shaft 21. The wheel 31 has two sets of teeth 32 and 33, facing, respectively, to right and left, and between these two sets oi. teeth is a notch 3i. One of the set-screws 26 carries a weight 26, the tendency of which is to constantly move the arm 28, so as to carry its tooth 30 toward the wheel ill. 1

()n that arm of the trip-lever 21 which plays between the set-screws 2b of the lockarm 28 is mounted a weight 35, which can be adjusted on the arm so as to project more or less to one side or other of the same, depending upon the desired direction in which the preponderance of weight is to be exerted.

Normallythat is to say,when all of the elevator-doors are closedthe pistons within the cylinders 1 are elevated by the latches 6 of the doors and the piston in the cylinder 18 is so depressed that the preponderance of weight on the upwardly-projecting arm of the triplever 21 is exerted outwardly, whereby said arm of the lever is pressed into contact with the outer set-screw 26 of the lock-arm 28, so as to move said arm outwardly and withdraw its tooth 30 from engagement with the notch 34 of the wheel 31. The governing-shaft 2% is therefore free to be turned by means of the usual governing connections passing through the elevator-car, so as to permit of a flow of motive iiuid or current to operate the hoisting device and raise or lower the car. \Vhen the shaft 2% has been moved so as to stop the ear either after ascent or descent of the same, the notch ill of the wheel 31 is brought into position to be engaged by the tooth 30 of the lockarm 28, and as soon as the latch upon any one of the doors of the elevator-well is depressed, so as to unlock said door and permit it to be opened, the piston or plunger in the cylinder 1 corresponding to said door will drop, and will thus cause a partial vacuum in the upper end of the cylinder, in the stand-pipe 15,

and in the upper end of the cylinder 18, so as to lift the piston 19 in the latter and move the trip-lever 21, so as to remove its restraining influence from the arm 28 and permit the tooth 30 of said arm to enter the notch 34 of the wheel 31, thereby locking said wheel and preventing any movement of the shaft 21 which would be necessary in order to eifect the starting of the car. The parts remain in this position until the elevator-door has been again closed and latched, the latch in its upward closing movement lifting the piston in the cylinder 1, and thus forcing air from the upper portion of said cylinder through the pipe 15 and into the upper portion of the cylinder 18 in order to depress the plunger therein, and thereby operate the trip-lever 2 so as to cause it to again act upon the arm 28 in such manner as to withdraw the tooth 30 of said arm from the notch 3t of the wheel 31, thereby releasing the latter and permitting such movement of the shaft 24 as may be necessary to start the movement of the car.

The latch and keeper of each car are so constructed that the lug 10 ot' the latch will engage with the block 11 of the keeper before imparting such movement to the piston-rod 4 as to eifect the release of thelocking-wheel 31 from the control of the tooth 30. Hence the door must be fully closed and latched before there can be any movement of the governing devices whereby the motor 1nechanism is set in operation to either raise or lower the car.

In case the door is unlatched before operating the controlling device to stop the car or while said device is being operated the tooth 30 will strike one of the toothed portions 32 or of the wheel 31 and thus will be in position to lock the same against reverse movement even before it reaches the notch 34, the latter being employed only to insure the operation of the tooth 30 and prevent it from jumping from one set of teeth to the other, the use of a series of teeth on each side of a central cut-oit point of the wheel covering any range of movement of the latter in which the cut-off is likely to be effected and insuring the locking of the wheel against reverse or opening movement as soon as such cut-off has been accomplished. By the term cutoff as here used is meant the operation of the valve or other controlling device, so as to stop the elevator, and by the term reverse movement is meant that movement of the wheel 31 which would be necessary in order to move the valve orother controlling device to a position which would effect the starting of the elevator again.

The use of the trip-lever 21 and lock-arm 28 with lost-motion connection between them insures the proper operation of the device even though the tooth 30 of the arm 28 when originally moved inward should happen to strike the crown of a tooth 32 or of the wheel 31, for the trip-lever 21 will by the time the tooth 3O strikes the tooth 32 have been moved to such an extent that the preponderance of weight will be toward the wheel 31, and hence will carry the arm 28 in the same direction as soon as its tooth has left the crown of the wheel-tooth. This construction while preferable, however, is not absolutely necessary, as the tooth 30 might, if desired, be formed directly upon one of the arms 'of the lever 21. Neither is it necessary to the proper carrying out of my invention that the locking device should act upon the wheel connected to the valve or switch operating shaft 24, as the locking device might, if desired, act upon a wheel42 independent of said shaft 24 and adapted to be turned by the valvegoverning rope 40, such construction being shown, for instance, in Fig. 9, or the locking device may be caused to act upon a rack-bar or notched bar 43, carried by said governingrope and movable to and fro with the same, as shown, for instance, in Fig. 10, the piston being raised by a spring, as shown by dotted lines,or by other equivalent means when pressure is removed from the top of the same, or the locking device might engage with a toothed segment 011 the controlling-lever 37 in the cab, as shown in Fig. 11, the cylinder 18 in this case being connected to the standpipe 15 by a flexible pipe, such as that ordinarily employed to convey gas to burners in the car. In fact, there may be many modifications in the particular locking devices employed which will simply be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to which my invention relates and will not involve any departure from the main feature of said in vention, the latter consisting, broadly, in the use of a body of air, gas, or other imponderable fluid or as I term it a pneumatic connection between the door or door-latch and the locking device in place of purely mechanical or electrical connections and operates directly by the door or some moving part thereof.

As instancing other variations in the construction of the device which are within the skill of the mechanic and do not involve any departure from the essential features of my invention I may note the substitution of a diaphragm or bellows structure for the cylinder and piston, the operation of the piston, diaphragm, or its equivalent by a downward instead of by an upward movement of the latch and in the reverse direction bya spring instead of by gravity, the use of the air-cylinder and piston to operate the valve of an independent pressure device, whereby the locking device is actuated, and the operation of the air compressing or exhausting device by the movement of the door instead of by the movement of the latch, the latter construction being preferred in all cases, however, in

order to insure not only the closing but the locking of the door before there can be any release of the locking mechanism which controls the application of power to the elevator.

I refer to the use of air, gas, or other like fluid as a means of imparting the movement of the door or door-latch to the locking device, because the use of a liquid body would be impracticable on account of the pressure of the hydrostatic column maintained in an elevator-well of any considerable height.

By the use of the lug 10 upon the latch 6 I am enabled to locate the piston-rod abehind the keeper-block 11, so that the same is not readily accessible and cannot be tampered with by mischievous or malicious persons.

Openings 45 are by preference formed in the lower portions of the cylinders 1, so as to permit of a free flow of air to and from the under portion of each of said cylinders as the piston or plunger is moved therein.

It will be evident that in case the latch on any one of the doors of the elevator-well is disabled it does not affect the proper operation of the mechanism at any of the other doors of the well, as the leakage of air around the piston of the cylinder of the disabled latch or around the piston in the cylinder 18 will quickly restore the equilibrium in the pipe connections.

The use of the valve-disk 16 upon the piston of each of the cylinders 1 effectually prevents leakage around the pistons of the cylinders 1 from diminishing the force of the blast directed into the pipe 15 on the rise of a piston in a cylinder or from diminishing the attenuation of the air in said pipe on the descent of the piston in a cylinder in those cases in which a great number of cylinders 1 are employed and in which the aggregate leakage might be considerable.

I preferably arrange the cylinders in all cases so that they will be vertical. Hence there will be a minimum of wear upon the pistons and piston-rods due to their movement in the cylinders.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination of the various doorways and doors of an elevator-well, a locking device for arresting operation of the motive power which moves the elevator-car, and pneumatic mechanism so located as to be 0perated directly by some moving part of each door, whereby motion maybe transmitted to said locking device,substantially as specified.

2. The combination of the various doors for closing the openings of an elevator-well, latches whereby said doors are secured in position when closed, a locking device for arresting the operation of the motive power whereby the car is actuated, and pneumatic mechanism so located that the movement of any of the door-latches is caused to actuate directly said locking device, substantially as specified.

3. In mechanism for locking elevators, the combination of a stand-pipe running through the elevator-well, a series of pneumatic pressure and exhaust devices, one for each elevator-door, communications between said devices and said pipe, and a lockingdevice for arresting the operation of the motive power whereby the car is actuated, one of the elements of said locking device being a pneumatic pressure and exhaust device comm unicating with the stand-pipe, substantially as specified.

4. The combination in a locking device for elevators, of a pneumatic pressure and exhaust device having a projecting rod, a door having a movable latch, and a keeper for said latch, the parts being so disposed that as the latch moves into locking position it will operate the rod of the pneumatic device, substantially as specified.

5. The combination, in locking mechanism for elevators, of a pneumatic pressure and exhaust device, a door having a swinging latch and a keeper whereby said latch is deflected prior to engagement therewith, said parts being so disposed that the pneumatic device will be actuated by the latch as the latter moves into position behind the keeper, substantially as specified.

6. The combination in locking mechanism for elevators, of a ratchet having right and left hand teeth, and means whereby the same is moved by or with the power-controlling device, with a locking device having a tooth adapted to engage with either the rightor left hand teeth of said ratchet.

7. The combination in locking mechanism for elevators, of a ratchet having right and left hand teeth with interposed notch, a locking-arm having a tooth adapted to engage with the teeth and enter said notch, and means for moving said arm so as to carry its teeth into and out of the notch, substantially as specified.

S. The combination, in locking mechanism for elevators, of a locking device, a lockingarm carrying a tooth adapted to engage therewith, a trip-lever adapted to actuate said arm but mounted so as to have a limited amount of lost motion in respect thereto, and means for operatingsaid lever, substantially as specified.

9. The combination, in locking, mechanism for elevators, of a locking device, an arm having a tooth adapted to engage therewith, a trip-lever adapted to actuate said arm but having a limited amount of lost motion in respect thereto, means for operating said triplever, and a weight adjustable on the lever so as to vary its preponderance on one side of the fulcrum, substantially as specified.

10. The combination in locking mechanism for elevators, of a series of cylinders one for each door, a pipe connection between each of said cylinders and a locking device for arresting the operation of the power mechanism of the elevator, a piston in each cylinder having a portion constituting a valve for sealing its pipe connection, and means for operating the pistons by or from moving parts of the elevator-doors, substantially as specified.

11. The combination of the doorways and doors of an elevator-well, a locking device for arresting operation of the motive power which moves the car, pneumatic mechanism so located as to be operated directly from some moving part of each door and serving to unlock the locking device when the door is closed, and mechanical provision for reloeking said device when the door is open.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

TIIEOPIIILUS VAN KANNEL.

Witnesses:

II. F. REARDoN, F. E. BEoHToLD. 

